Unitech applies for land surrender to bail out of Rs 4773.33 crore dues with Noida Authority

NOIDA: A total of 91 defaulting residential real estate projects of Noida, owes a total of Rs 9993.00 crores to the Noida Authority in lieu of pending land lease dues. The whopping figure was released on Friday when the authority uploaded a list of defaulter builders. In this list, Unitech Limited tops the list at Rs 4773.33 crore. The second top defaulter is Amrapali with a total outstanding of Rs 1076.81 crores.

Simultaneously today, Unitech has applied for a surrender of its formerly leased and unused land plots from the authority in sectors 96, 97, 98 and 117. “Unitech has applied for a surrender of 221 acres of land. The matter is still not processed. However, once the land is accepted, we will make an estimate of the due and give them concessions against the debt,” CEO, Noida Authority, Amit Mohan Prasad, said.

The Unitech officers when contacted confirmed this transaction. When enquired if this transaction closed their dues with authority, Executive Vice President – Real Estate Development, Unitech Limited Rana Rajesh Kumar confirmed, “Once processed, this will make Unitech debt free when it comes to Noida authority.” However he did not comment on future course of action to close other commitments.

Apart from Unitech, Wave group too has surrendered land with Noida Authority today to negate outstanding dues.

However Amrapali group, which according to the defaulter list, has 1076.81 crore outstanding has not applied for any land surrender to ease out of lease debts held against it.

“Unlike other builders who are surrendering their unused land, all the land leased to us are excavated with some amount of construction already commenced. So we are not in a position to surrender our land. However, we have even today in a meeting requested Noida Authority to grant us some relief financial relief for the period when the NGT had imposed a stay on construction or when the land acquisition in Patwari stood challenged by farmers. If we are provided adequate discounts, we can complete our due projects and pay back the Authority likewise,” Shiv Priya, executive director, Amrapali group, said.

Commenting on the pressure of such a huge debt by builders to the Authority, Amit Mohan Prasad further added, “Our next course of action will be to process these land returns. Whatever the valuation comes to, will be deducted from the outstanding debt of the builder. The returned land will be held out for fresh leasing.”